Ada and Tom Deuel ’57 Celebrate Science with a Gift to Princeton

When Tom Deuel ’57 celebrated his 90th birthday in February 2025, his wife, Ada, wanted to make the occasion extra special. She organized a surprise party for the biochemist and cancer researcher at his favorite restaurant in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and invited, among others, many of his former students.

“They came from all over the world, from China, from Europe. A lot of CEOs of companies, people in academia — all busy people, who took the time to come,” said Ada, who added that many expressed gratitude for Tom’s support, honesty and guidance over the years. Ada noted that some of the women said they were treated differently at that time, but never in Deuel’s lab. “In Tom’s lab, they were scientists,” said Ada.

A love of science is what drew Tom and Ada together. It also prompted her to choose a gift for his birthday that would honor his lifetime career achievements. The Deuels had previously established a charitable remainder trust with Princeton in 2008; the Thomas F. Deuel ’57 Research Fund supports the Department of Molecular Biology.

Both gifts acknowledge the Deuels’ gratitude to Princeton, a place that Tom cherishes and that has also earned a spot in Ada’s heart.

A life of discovery

The Deuels have a storied history with the University. Tom’s father, Franklin Shreve Deuel ’1920, a member of Tower Club who would go on to have a career in banking, paused his studies in June 1918 to join the U.S. Army as a second lieutenant, returning in January 1919. Like most of his classmates, Frank had no assurance he would return. Five members of the class were killed in World War I. In the spring of 1920, the “Nassau Herald” included a class history with this reflection: “Contrary to our expectation, our class has been reunited … and now on us has largely fallen the task of restoring undergraduate life to a peace-time basis.”

Tom’s uncle, Robert “Bob” Deuel ’29, benefitted from this peacetime restoration and served on the business staff of the Nassau Literary Magazine during his time on campus. The Class of 1929, who would face their own challenges with the crash of the stock market, were the last freshmen to partake in a tradition known as the flour picture, for which sophomores pelted them with flour and water; they memorialized this symbolically with an illustration of a flour-covered dog on their Reunions “beer suits.”

When Tom came to Princeton in 1953, he planned to study engineering, but a course in biology changed his path. He threw himself into campus life — playing 150-pound football, serving as a chapel deacon, becoming party chairman of Quadrangle Club (“We don’t talk about that too much,” Deuel said with a smile) and forging friendships that would last a lifetime. He also decided to study medicine.

Tom received his M.D. from Columbia University College of Physician and Surgeons in 1961. Afterward, he trained in internal medicine (hematology) and biological chemistry. He became a professor of medicine and biological chemistry at Washington University in St. Louis where he devoted most of his time to biomedical research. In 1983, he made a landmark discovery: demonstrating that a protein produced by platelets — one that causes cells to grow — was structurally similar to an oncogene found in non-human primates. It was, Ada explained, the first evidence of a connection between growth factors and cancer, and the first example of what scientists would come to call homology cloning, a technique for identifying genes based on structural similarity. “Nobody thought that something you need in your body for normal development could also produce cancer,” she said. “That was a seminal discovery.”

In his 25th Reunion book, Deuel wrote that he took “particular pleasure in the opportunity for originality and creativity in research” and in teaching graduate students. “Princeton for me, was wonderful,” he wrote. “Learning, increasing intellectual and emotional independence, and the ever-present challenges to inquire and seek new information are positive memories that complement lifelong friendships and associations.”

In the mid-1990s he became a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and the director of the division of growth regulation at Beth Israel Hospital in Boston. In 2002, he became director of the department of molecular and experimental medicine and director of the vascular biology affinity group at Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California. In his 50th Reunion book, he wrote about his excitement about “the many wonderful discoveries in biomedical research that hold enormous promise for better lives.”

Keeping Princeton connections

Post-graduation, Deuel stayed close to Princeton. He served as chair of the Advisory Council for the Department of Molecular Biology from 1987 to 2007, remaining deeply engaged with the science taking shape on campus. He attended multiple Reunions.

While Deuel was at Washington University in 1990, he met Ada. A neurobiologist originally from northern Spain, she was doing postdoctoral research in the university’s Department of Neurology when Tom came to her lab to discuss a collaborative project. She was immediately struck by his passion. “He was just all about science. He wanted to do everything under the sun,” she recalls. “And I was very impressed with him because of his love for research.”

Ada has a remarkable career in biotech, holding leadership roles in pharmacology and drug development. Recently, a gene therapy she helped develop received FDA approval, allowing children born deaf due to a missing protein to hear for the first time.

Ada came to Princeton Reunions as an outsider and left as a convert. Her introduction was, by her own account, overwhelming: Tom sent her ahead to pick up their gear while he traveled down from Cambridge. She arrived alone, knowing no one, and asked a stranger which bus was going to the Class of 1957 registration. “So I get into the bus and of course nobody knows me,” she said. She told them she was Deuel’s girlfriend. “And suddenly — ‘Oh, Tommy, Tommy’ — all these people wanted to help.”

Reunions became a cherished ritual. For Ada, what’s special about the gathering comes down to the people. “The friendships. The way his classmates care for each other. It’s a very, very good feeling. I think it’s Princeton.”

The Deuel family’s Princeton connection continued into the next generation. Two of Tom’s children became Tigers too: Katie ’89 and Tom Jr. ’94.

Ada describes the research fund made in Tom’s name as an act of love, and of faith — faith in Princeton’s mission, in the power of basic science and in the generations of researchers who will one day make discoveries no one can yet imagine.

“I want Tom to be remembered for what he has done,” Ada said. “And for him, research has been everything. So I wanted to honor him in that way.”

—Catherine Mallette ’84

To learn more about supporting Princeton through a planned gift, contact the Office of Gift Planning at 609.258.6318 or GiftPlanning@princeton.edu, or visit Gift Planning’s website.